Most students probably don't think there is a relationship between racial profiling and genetics.
But last night in Houston Hall's Ben Franklin Room, Troy Duster, a sociology professor, proved that there is, in fact, a relationship between the two.
Duster, a professor at the University of California-Berkeley and New York University, said that researchers on the Human Genome Project have concluded that since "people are genetically 99.99 percent alike... race is a phenomena of not much utility."
He addressed this issue and others at the first event in this year's Colloquium Series on Ethnicity, Race and Culture: Disparities in Health, Education and Public Policy. The colloquium, sponsored by Penn's W.E.B. DuBois Collective Research Institute, drew a group of about 40 people, composed mostly of graduate students.
Duster, in his speech about the implications of the Genome Project for African Americans, said that such sentiments are not limited to the scientific community. For instance, Ward Connerly, a Regent of the University of California, is currently trying to get the concept of race removed from every California state document.
According to Duster, molecular biology has contributed to the decreasing lack of importance placed on race.
"Molecular biology entered the stage and began to show that different races have different risks for gene disorders," he said.
According to Duster, biotechnology and pharmaceutical firms are intrigued by results from the Human Genome Project that indicate certain genetic disorders may be race-related.
"Biotech is interested in profits," Duster said, noting that firms are already developing pharmaceuticals or gene therapy geared toward certain genes and consequently, toward certain races.
He noted a Financial Times article stating that an "ethnic drug" reduced heart failure in African-American patients, but not in Caucasian ones, implying that heart failure can now be attributed to a particular gene found in African Americans.
Duster said that this sort of statement draws scrutiny away from important socioeconomic factors -- such as discrimination in the health system and poverty -- believed to be correlated with the health problems of African Americans.
"The first ethnic drug to be marketed in this country is marketed to black people," Duster said. "I find this extraordinary."
Duster then turned to forensics, which he said has been influenced greatly by genetic research, as it is already possible to infer ethnic origin on some level by using DNA.
"A few years ago, [New York] Police Chief Howard Safir and Mayor Rudolph Giulani decided they liked this new technology [portable mini-labs that can analyze a suspect's DNA on the spot]," Duster said.
He added that, if approved, this technology could make racial profiling even more rampant.
He also said that the proportion of African-American men in prison has risen during the 20th century, and this phenomenon cannot be attributed merely to genes.
In 1920, for every Caucasian man in prison, there were 2.5 African-American men. And in 1997, the proportion was 8.5 to one.
"Genes don't change that fast," he said. "But social attitudes do."
Duster added that molecular biology and genetics should not be considered cure-alls.
"New molecular biology is the new phrenology of crime," he said.
Duster touched on the issues of individual privacy connected with the Human Genome Project.
He hypothesized that the government may want all Americans to submit a DNA sample for a national DNA pool.
"In the light of the terrorist bombing, this idea of a DNA pool will get a lot more discussion," Duster said. "The notion of privacy has been disrupted."
Gniesha Dinwiddie, a doctoral student in the sociology department, said the issues of race raised in the lecture intrigued her.
"I thought it was a timely lecture in terms of the Human Genome Project coming to fruition, and in relation to the Sept. 11 bombing, in that racial profiling is still alive," she said.
"We can't get away from racial categories," she added, "even though researchers are trying to do away with race."
Gigi Gomez, a visiting graduate student in education from the University of California at Los Angeles, said the lecture caused her to wonder about the morality and ethics of genetic research.
"The overall impact of the presentation astounds me in the sense that we can help the common welfare [with genetic research and a DNA pool], but it can also be detrimental," she said. "Who knows what will happen in 10 years?"
